Toyota Etios Liva TRD Sportivo review, test drive

It’s also a ratio that results in a pretty impressive 0-100kph run of 11.88sec. Compare that to the Polo’s 11.62sec and you’ll see the Sportivo is a fairly ‘warm’ hatchback when driven flat out. The motor is very responsive thanks to a healthy slug of low-end torque, and power delivery is quite linear. The mid-range is strong too and the engine pulls reasonably well, if not as enthusiastically as a Honda motor, to its redline. The 1.5 Sportivo motor is identically geared to the regular 1.2 Liva and the 1.5 Etios and hence the extra power makes the Sportivo feel a touch low geared. This has its benefits; the Sportivo is quick off the mark and darts to 60kph in a sprightly 4.79 seconds, which is a touch quicker than the Polo 1.6. It pulls cleanly from low speeds in almost any gear, and this makes it very easy to drive in the city. As a result, you don’t need to change gears frequently, and even if you do, you’ll love the five-speed gearbox’s light, short throws.

The Liva’s twin-cam motor is not the smoothest or the quietest around, but there’s no doubt the improvements to the Liva’s noise, vibration and harshness package has improved things.